Alabama Takes From the Poor and Gives to the Rich
To raise taxes in Alabama, cities and counties must go through the state legislature to initiate a constitutional amendment allowing them to pass a law to raise property or income …
Failure to Pay
In Small-Town Georgia, A Broken Taillight Can Lead to Spiraling Debt
Georgia is one of the few states that criminalize traffic fines and allow localities to outsource misdemeanor probation supervision to private companies that are permitted to charge fees. This article …
The Criminalization Of Poverty In Tennessee
14 percent of Tennessee’s population lives below the poverty line, and while communities faced unaffordable housing costs, unemployment, and inadequate public transportation, counties used public funds to expand jails. From …
North Carolina Court Appearance Project
In North Carolina, nonappearance for a court case can lead to driver’s license suspension, an order for arrest, and jail time. Nearly 250,000 court appearances are missed annually in North …
Civil Assessments: The Hidden Court Fee That Penalizes Poverty
California allows courts to charge a civil assessment fee of up to $300 to people who miss a deadline to pay or appear in court. An estimated 300,000 people receive …
Resolve Traffic Debt: Advocate Toolkit
North Carolina automatically suspends a person’s driver’s license for failure to pay court fees or fines for a motor vehicle offense. Approximately 300,000 North Carolinians have long-term driver’s license suspensions …
Why We Need to Stop Suspending and Revoking Driver’s Licenses Due to Debt
The Prosperity Now Scorecard rates states on their progress toward racial economic justice in several policy areas. The 2022 policy update includes an assessment of which states have ended the …
AL HB 200
The Alabama legislature recently introduced a bill that would prohibit driver’s license suspensions for failure to pay a fine, fee, court cost or restitution imposed as a result of a …
Debtors Prisons: In Mississippi, Judges Can Lock You Up For Owing Money
In Mississippi, judges lock up people while they work to earn money to pay off court fees, fines, and restitution, without an end date. People spend an average of four …
NJ S266
The New Jersey legislature introduced a bill that would eliminate driver’s license suspensions for failure to answer or appear in response to a failure to appear notice, or failure to pay …